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Thursday, 5 March 2015

Day 124 - Marvellous Mallards

Hi all today's Day 124 and I have a very common water bird that I haven't covered yet. I was surprised to see that I hadn't done them yet and so, I took the opportunity and started this post. As you can see from the title and pictures, the bird I am talking about is the Mallard.

So, let's get on with the facts:

Male and Female Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)

I have always thought that Mallards were common but they actually aren't. They are an Amber Status and there are only about 61,000-146,000 breeding pairs in the UK but during the winter they are joined by another 600,000 birds from Iceland and Northern Europe to bring the total up to 710,000 birds.

There is an internet myth that ducks' quacks don't echo. This is NOT true. This myth has probably come from the fact that you need to be in a place like a mountain or a canyon, somewhere that has something to reflect the sound back to you. But as ducks live in large open areas, people very rarely get to hear it happening.

Group of Mallards

Staying on the subject of a Mallard's call, the 'quack-quack' of a female duck can actually be heard for miles around! This is probably for calling out to a potential mate.

They are a medium sized water bird being only 58cm in length and only sporting an 90cm wingspan. Male Mallards weigh 1.2kg while Females only weigh 980g.

The male and female mallard look so different from each other that they were originally thought to be separate species.

To get down to an Amber Status, they must have had a serious decline because in 2007 they were a Green Status bird.

Male Mallard

They have a typical life span of 3 years but the oldest Mallard was 20 years 5 months and 17 days old!

These birds aren't found in the following habitats: Heathland, moorland, pasture, arable, marsh, bogs and reed beds but they are found in: lakes, ponds streams, rivers, estuaries and shores.